Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The “grace of God”
spoken of in this verse of scripture is not simply the divine attribute of
grace; it is our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, grace personified and embodied.
This is God’s gracious gift to all people who have lived, live now, and will
ever live (John 1:14). By this grace, we are saved (Ephesian 2:8-9); we can
never do anything worthy of salvation by any good work that we accomplish. But,
on the other hand, if we are totally surrendered to Christ Jesus, body, mind,
spirit, and soul, we will work because we have it. This grace that is salvation
will come to all people at some point in their lives; we can either accept it
or reject it. We do not go out and seek salvation; it comes to us with the
option of denial or acceptance. Charles Spurgeon once said: “Thus you see that
grace has its disciples. Are you a disciple of the grace of God? Did you ever
come and submit yourself to it?”
In the opening three verses in the letter to Titus (Titus 1:1-3), Paul clarifies that salvation comes only through the faith of the ones God has chosen and their knowledge of the truth of God’s Holy Word. Out of all humanity only those people that believe in Christ Jesus and trust in Him and Him alone for their eternal life will be saved (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24, 38, 40; 6:40; 10:9; Romans 10:9-17)
There will always be a battle between our fleshly nature and our spiritual nature, this will be an ongoing battle as long as we are in these fleshly bodies. In order to live a life of total surrender to God our spiritual nature must be victorious over our fleshly nature, that can only occur through the love and grace of Christ Jesus (Galatian 5:16). In this world where we face the temptation to say yes to the flesh, the beauty of our faith can be exhibited and revealed by what we reject and repudiate.
If we will but turn away from the temptations of this world and live our lives in and for Christ Jesus, we will experience the blessed hope which is the appearing of the glory of God, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. The greatest aim and drive of living a life sold out to Christ Jesus is not what we can do for God but what God has done for us. The only way we will ever understand how to live a life pleasing to Christ Jesus is when we come to an understanding and comprehension of the grace of God.
As children of God, we as followers and believers in Christ Jesus should live our lives like the Rapture is going to occur today. There are no signs that we can point to indicating that the Rapture time is near. His coming is imminent. It might not be for years or even decades away, but nothing would prevent the second coming of Our Lord and Savior from occurring today. Therefore, we should live our lives with that truth in mind.
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